Inhofe says he'll keep earmarking

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe is going down swinging, insisting he’ll still send earmarks to his state even though his fellow Senate Republicans are poised to adopt a two-year ban on pet projects.

“I'm going to look out for my state of Oklahoma,” Inhofe told POLITICO. “Obviously, that's what the Constitution says I’m going to do, and I'm going to do it. Let's keep in mind this is over. I'll be the last conservative standing.”

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Inhofe’s comments come as pressure builds on senators to give up earmarks in the new Congress after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reversed course and said he’d vote to change Senate GOP Conference rules and back a ban. Inhofe, who has emerged during the past week as the most outspoken critic of the ban, said that he did not get a heads-up from McConnell before the GOP leader made his announcement.

But the moratorium is neither binding nor enforceable, meaning GOP senators can still request earmarks even if it means bucking the will of their party.

Senate Democratic leaders balk at the idea, saying it’s their constitutional prerogative to dictate the spending priorities in their states. But critics say it’s a symbol of the spending excesses of Washington.

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), the top Republican on Appropriations, said "we'll just have to wait and see" on whether he'd continue to earmark.

At least two Democrats — Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Mark Udall of Colorado — have joined a push for an earmark moratorium. They will be joined by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) this week as they seek a floor vote on a Senate-wide ban on earmarks.

Asked whether she thought her party leaders looked out of touch by opposing a ban, McCaskill said: “Yes.”

“This should be the easy stuff — we got to do hard stuff on debt and deficit,” said McCaskill, who is up for reelection in 2012. “If everyone really scrubs this issue and look at it, the arguments against it, every single one of them, I don’t believe, pass the smell test.”

On the Republican side, some long-time appropriators, such Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, have said they’d abide by the ban.

Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said he would wait to decide whether to continue earmarking, saying there are “many of us” who don’t want to abdicate their responsibility to their constituents.

But, he added, “the question is to what extent is it important that the Republican leadership [position] should be honored,” saying that a “semblance of order” might be what’s needed.